Chapter 7 American Political Ideologies and Beliefs

$Public opinion$ : how people feel about things * Pollsters measure public opinion * Not uniform - $general public$ care more about political issues that directly affect their regular lives * Political issue does not have to interest the majority of the public to be considered important * $Issue public$ : a smaller group to which an issue is important

Characteristics: * $Saliency$ : the degree to which an issue is important to a certain individual/group * $Intensity$ : how strongly people feel about a particular issue * $Stability$ : how much dimensions of public opinion change
Measured indirectly through elections, but hard to translate
$Referendum$ submitted to popular vote to accept/reject a legislation, measures public opinion on specific issues
$Public opinion polls$ measure public opinion most frequently and directly

Designed to measure public opinion by asking a smaller group questions * Achieved by pollsters through $random sampling$ : allows pollsters to find information representative of the public * $Benchmark polls$ : conducted by a campaign when a candidate initially announces * Provide campaign with baseline data to see if chances of winning election improve over time * $Tracking polls$ : performed multiple times with the same sample to track changes in opinion * $Entrance polls$ : collected on Election Day as voters go to cast their vote * $Exit polls$ : conducted at polling places, targeting voting districts that represent the public and poll random voters leaving the place * $Stratified random sampling$ : variation of random sampling; population divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographics * Questions must be carefully worded (objectively) * Polls cannot be 100% accurate * $Sampling error$ : how wrong the poll results may be * Ex. 60% with a sampling error of 4% would mean the real percentage could be between 56 and 64% * More respondents = lower sampling error

$Political socialization$ : the process by which a person develops political attitudes * Factors: * Family * Most people eventually are of the same political party as their parents * Children get moral/ethical values from parents * Location * Rural areas develop more socially conservative views than cities * Religious institutions * Mass media * Higher education * Large change in political beliefs

$Ideology$ : a coherent set of thoughts and beliefs about politics and government * $Conservative$ : less government interference; oppose most federal regulations (laissez-faire economics); social conservatives support government involvement in social issues * $Liberal$ : more government assistance to help social/economic problems; government regulation of economy; separation of church and state * $Moderate/independent$ : no coherent ideology; common sense over philosophical principles
Americans have fewer ideological groups
Strongly ideological Americans tend to be more politically active * Political activities/organizations * Candidates must appeal to more extreme party members in primaries but be more moderate in general elections

Factors: * Race/ethnicity: groups with lower income are usually more liberal * Religion: Jews and Protestants are more liberal; Catholics lean left but are more conservative on social issues; Protestants are more conservative * Gender: women tend to be more liberal * Income level: higher income Americans tend to be more supportive of liberal goals but more fiscally conservatives; lower income Americans are more conservative on issues except welfare * Region: East Coast is more liberal, South is more conservative, West Coast is the most polarized/mixed; cities are more liberal while rural/small towns are conservative

News media * News broadcasts on TV, radio, and the Internet * Newspapers * News magazines * Magazine broadcast programs * Newsmaker interview programs * Websites, blogs, news aggregators, online forums * Social media * Political talk radio/podcasts
Media sets the public agenda by choosing stories to cover and which to ignore
Media provides Americans with exposure to the government + politicians * Question motives of government * Exposure to news media has increased, more influence over the years
Media only affects public opinion when it is volatile or news coverage is extensive and mostly positive/negative * Most instances it does not have an effect - media covers many stories simultaneously, Americans choose media that enforce their political beliefs
Social media has become a tool for grassroots political movements

There is less ideological bias in news than critics claim * News media has become less biased throughout American history * Most news organizations want to be objective - consumers from both sides of the political spectrum * Impossible for news media to be completely objective * Simple stories are faster to run and don’t bore consumers * Time and space result in bias * Especially with TV news programs * Must report many stories in limited time * Use short sound bites * Can be biased by sources of information * Reporters who use politicians/government sources must try not to offend their sources and not become too close but demonstrate independence and credibility * Reporters are usually more skeptical about politicians’ motives than Americans are * Politicians try to influence news coverage * Photo ops * Press releases * plan appearances based on audience demographics